128 THE FINE ART OF FISHING 



from seventy-five to a hundred feet of line out, is bound 

 to hit the water with considerable force. 

 Strange as it may seem, this as a rule 

 does not alarm the fish. But in fishing very shal- 

 low water along-shore, or in reedy river coves where 

 the water is not deep, care must be taken in this par- 

 ticular. If you succeed in starting the minnow toward 

 the rod just before or at the instant it strikes the water, 

 reasonable delicacy results. A great many bait-casters 

 are careless in this regard with the natural consequence 

 that their success is not phenomenal. If, at the end of 

 the cast, the bait lies for an instant motionless and dead 

 on the water, a bass whose interest has been aroused 

 to the point of striking will usually change his mind. I 

 have, however, several times seen bass strike a bait 

 floating "dead" on the surface while the angler was 

 arguing with his reel the question whether a backlash 

 is merely a misfortune or an actual calamity. This, of 

 course, is very exceptional ; the motion of the lure is the 

 factor that brings the strikes. 



In fly-casting, delicacy to a certain degree is not 

 difficult of attainment. Beyond that certain degree, 

 with which no fly-caster should be satisfied, it is a mat- 

 ter of no little difficulty and requires years of stream 

 experience and practice. When fishing the clear, shal- 

 low riffles of small streams the flies must drop on the 

 water with the lightness of the proverbial thistle-down. 

 If you fail in this you will see the trout in that vicinity 

 disappear with uniform celerity. It is when casting a 

 long line that the veteran fly-caster, by the ease with 

 which he causes the flies to alight straight, delicately, 



